Altsounds - Swashbuckle - Crewed By The Damned [CD]

Being the debut full length outing from this New Jersey based metal band, it is difficult to know what to expect from Swashbuckle’s ‘Crewed By The Damned’. Musically, the mellow opener ‘Under The Black Flag’ keeps very much in theme with the band’s unique pirate get-ups and the CD’s artwork, however, as it trails out for the thundering ‘Welcome Aboard’ to kick in, this is the first time that the listener really gets an opportunity to hear what this band are about. High speed double kicks like canon balls being fired and riffs so typically metal that only a man dressed as a pirate could play them set the album off to an energising start.

If you care to look through the gimmicky (yet rather clever) Pirate theme of Swashbuckle, it becomes evident that this band is actually made up of very talented musicians and songwriters. In particular, the verse riff to ‘Upon The Spanish Main’ and ‘Jolly Roger’ in its entirety demonstrate the refined sound of an old-school thrash metal that have put a lot of time and effort into achieving a sound to be proud of. The instrumental bridge section of the latter track is a piece of music that really deserves to be heard by metal fans the world over, as it truly serves it purpose in not only offering the song some variation but also by lending something special to the composition as a whole.

Upon listening to ‘Crewed By The Damned’, I quickly noticed the seeming trend that the structure of the record is pirate music / metal / pirate music / metal etc. I believe this to be the only major flaw of the album because not only does it get tiring half way through the track listing, but it is valuable time that the band could have perhaps used on including more ‘in yar face’ adrenaline pumped thrash songs. However, it has to be noted that the six ‘traditional’ Pirate sounding pieces do credit the band in a sense upon highlighting their skilled musicianship. To be able to master these two very conflicting styles so well and to allow them to be played one after the other in perfect harmony suggests that Swashbuckle are more than what meets the eye. Unfortunately, we do not see these two musical styles influence each other too often, and this arguably splits the album into two separate groups of songs. Apart from the guitar introduction of the title track and a growled ‘Ahoy!’ at the end of ‘Dead men Tell No Lies’, no other crossovers exist on this release, which in my opinion is a shame.

In all honesty, I’m not really sure who Swashbuckle’s audience are. However, whoever they are and wherever they may be, if its straight up metal with a pirate twist that they like, then they will not at all be disappointed by ‘Crewed by the Damned’.